


Mewling Descant

by Garchomp445



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Arguably hurt/comfort but, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, fine i'll tag it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 22:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15519810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garchomp445/pseuds/Garchomp445
Summary: Panne and Cordelia get thrown away from the rest of the shepherds by some mysterious spell. Even early on their quest to get back, not everything goes well.Written for Fire Emblem Rarepair Week 7/29 to 8/04: Prompt: Journey





	Mewling Descant

**Author's Note:**

> 3/7 of the way done with rarepair week! nearly halfway there!
> 
> also sorry for the placeholder title

Anyone could tell that Cordelia was going to worry herself into an early grave. In the shepherd’s camps, she scurried about constantly, completing minor tasks. They quite literally couldn’t be further from camp, and yet that’s exactly what she was doing. Panne lay on her side in the grass, barely half-awake while Cordelia searched through each of their bags and mapped out the area. At least she would run out of ink soon.

Cordelia waved at her, and pointed excitedly at her piece of paper. Panne slowly crawled over, not bothering to switch back to human form.

“I think I figured out the best route.” Cordelia pointed to a rough sketch of the mountains in the distance, “There’s a pass through here which was used by the Plegian army. If we take it, we might be able to find the shepherd’s convoy within the next month.”

“We should get moving, then.”

Cordelia nodded slowly, her lips pursed. Panne lightly bumped her with her side, and she apologized reflexively.

“Oh! Sorry!”

“You’re overthinking this. We have a plan, Cordelia.”

“Yeah, but if we pick the wrong path,”

“Then we fail. That fact is the same as any wrong path we take.” Panne leaned her head towards Cordelia, “If we fail, we can deal with the consequences then.”

Cordelia was silent for a while. The sea behind them disappeared quickly, and they moved into long, open fields. It had been noon when they were launched by the errant spell, and now it was nearly evening. Panne had been watching Cordelia to see if she was uncomfortable off of a horse, but even several hours of walking hadn’t visibly affected her. She truly was the greatest of the man-spawn. Panne held her head just a little higher.

Just as the sky turned orange, Cordelia shouted,

“There! There’s some shelter!” She pointed into the distance, Panne squinted her eyes but could only see endless rolling fields. Cordelia giggled, “Okay, to clarify, there’s a farmer’s cabin over there.”

“If anyone’s living there, we’ll have to sneak around.”

Cordelia nodded dutifully, “I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

The field before them was regular, recently tilled, and had a stone fence on one side. Panne slunk around the fence, then shifted back into her human form. Cordelia had stopped, and was staring at the house in the distance.

“Panne, I don’t think anyone’s living in that house. The door is off its hinges, and at least one of the windows is broken.”

“Thank you.” Cordelia smiled, then continued on towards the house. All of her smiles were pleasant, even several hours into their exhausting journey. It must be a natural part of her. Panne didn’t shift back, it paid to be cautious, even in the abandoned Plegian countryside.

The house was entirely abandoned, although only the first of the windows was broken. Cordelia investigated the window, then whispered to herself,

“Definitely some violent confrontation. You can see some dried blood.” Her expression turned grim, and she walked inside without a word. Panne snuck over and sniffed it. It was fresh blood too, at least within the past week. She put her nose up, if Cordelia didn’t find it a threat, then neither would she. Cordelia announced,

“I can’t find any suitable food for you here. There’s a bit of jerky, but no leafy plants.”

She pointed at the 

“Don’t search the garden by yourself.” Panne glared Cordelia right in the eyes, “You can’t see in the dark, and you can’t sniff out any remaining food.”

Cordelia smiled, “Don’t worry! I’ll just pick anything that’s ripe.”

 

A horrible scream came from behind the house. Panne transformed as she leapt outside, dashed around, then stopped as Cordelia screamed at her,

“Wait! There might be more traps!” In the dark orange light, blood dripped from Cordelia’s right arm, caught in a bear trap. It had already turned her hand purple. Panne leapt over, put a foot in the trap, then tore it open. It broke with a rusty, mechanical screech.

Cordelia fell flat on the ground and started regulating her breathing. Panne clawed off part of Cordelia’s uniform and wrapped it gently around the wound. Cordelia managed to croak out,

“There was an intact bed in the cottage. I’ll get myself there.”

“No. I’ll carry you.” Panne shifted quickly, then picked Cordelia up bodily, “Don’t move that wrapping until we can clean it.”

She walked carefully into the cottage, taking especial care for the sides of the doorway. Cordelia fell into the bed like a lump, and cradled her arm across her chest. Panne slipped out of the room and made for the well. It was aged and made entirely from stone, but there was a bucket attached and the line looked strong. She carried the water back into the room, and narrowed her eyes as Cordelia let out a shriek. Cordelia was trying to treat her own wound. Panne put the bucket next to her bed, moistened her hands, then growled as she went to help Cordelia. Cordelia could only smile sheepishly. The wound was easy to bandage with Cordelia’s clothes, but she would need Cordelia’s whole cooperation for this next part. She leaned in to Cordelia’s face, and decided she was close enough when she blushed.

“Any ordinary man-spawn would have fainted.”

Cordelia giggled, “Well, I would’ve preferred to not get injured in the first place, but thank you.”

“No, I suspect the hardest part for you will be staying in one place for long enough for your arm to heal.” She looked down her nose, “That’s why I wish you had fainted.”

“Ah. Sorry.”

“Please stay in bed while I look for herbs.”

Cordelia avoided Panne’s gaze for a second, “I will.”

Panne wasn’t going to treat Cordelia like a child. If she was convinced of something, then no promise would keep her from it. As Panne left, she started planning meals from what materials she had seen. It would be a busy week.

 

\--

 

After a long stand-off with Cordelia, Panne had convinced her to stay in the cottage. While waiting for meals, helping with meals, or being discouraged from studying the bear traps in the backyard, she would pass time by writing maps and plans for how they could proceed. Cordelia’s pack held a tiny selection of writing materials, and she had acquired some paper from the cottage.

It was far, far more peaceful than life in the shepherds. When someone was injured there, they had countless visitors and sometimes even camp gossip updates. Here, it was just the two of them, talking about anything they wanted.

 

\--

 

It had been nearly a week. Panne had tried to understand Cordelia’s maps, but it was clear that she had some trouble writing with her non-dominant hand. The papers were strewn with unrecognizable symbols and half a dozen scribbles. Some might have no meaning. Panne looked closely at one that showed a simple humanoid figure smiling and holding a rabbit. She wrinkled her nose and moved on.

Cordelia’s inkwell was dry. That explained her sudden interest in bothering Panne. She bounced out into the morning sun, and watched Cordelia stretching her right arm atop one of the rocky fences. She beamed,

“See! I’m feeling better!” She opened her mouth for a second, then closed it. “What’ve you been up to today?”

“Snooping around our cottage.” Cordelia blushed. She whispered to herself,

“O-our cottage? Oh my gods. I’m in love.”

“I noticed that you hadn’t made much progress.”

Cordelia’s face contorted briefly, then she gave a less-than-sincere smile.

“It became much harder once my inkwell ran dry, I admit.”

“Liar.” Panne sat down in the dirt.

Cordelia’s face twitched, she brought a hand up, then put it back down. “I’m sorry! It doesn’t feel like I’ve been making any progress!”

“You’re working with no information, and no resources. You just have to trust your gut.”

“That’s… that’s so simple. I can’t-”

Panne interrupted, “Clearly it isn’t simple for you.”

“You got me there.” Cordelia sat down onto the fence, “I can’t hide anything from you.”  
“Correct. So what is your best guess, if I must call it that?”

Cordelia rocked back and forth, “After what happened at the dragon’s table, Robin was scared. Fortunately for us, Robin doesn’t stay scared for very long. In order to deal with something like that, I’m sure they’re headed for the biggest friendly garrison available: all the way back in Ylisse.” Cordelia paused to massage her temples, but her next words came out stressed and high-pitched, “Which means one… of two things. Either we’ll miss the entire rest of the war, or they sent someone after us. And I don’t know which one’s worse.”

Panne didn’t know what to say. Instead, she hopped up to the fence, and laid down on Cordelia’s lap.

“Here. I’ve heard that my fur is an excellent stress relief.”

Cordelia laughed, then buried her face in Panne’s coat.

“Thanks.” Her voice was significantly muffled. “It is really, really soft.”

Panne rested her head on the cool stone. It would be another temperate, sunny day. She always had to squint during the day, and today would be no different. Panne thought of how proudly Cordelia hiked across the countryside in front of her. She knew what she was good at.

After Panne was sure that Cordelia had fallen asleep, she heard a long sigh, and Cordelia bolted up. Panne’s ears twitched.

“Panne. If you’re still willing to trust me.”

“Always.”

“We should get started walking. The less daylight we waste, the further we can go each day. I’ll tell you my plans to make it back to Ylisse by ourselves once we’re on the road. Panne shook her coat, probably covering Cordelia with hairs, and jumped down from the fence.

“Lead on.”

“I won’t let you down.”

 

\--

 

The sun beat down across the huge, green plain. Panne had her eyes nearly shut, she was just blindly following Cordelia.

“There’s a fence up ahead. One of those cozy, rock fences.”

Panne scoffed, “Cozy? What’s cozy about a fence? They all exist to limit your access to the world.”

“Well, this one’s doing a poor job! It’s only three feet high!” Cordelia lunged over it, “Besides, doesn’t the rock make it feel more natural?”

Panne stepped over the fence, her shoulders were tall enough that she didn’t even adjust her stride. She sniffed the fence as she passed. It did indeed carry a natural odour.

“Perhaps.”

“That’s the sort of fences I’ll have. They’re harder to build, but they last longer than wooden fencing.”

“Hm. You have strange fantasies, Cordelia.”

It was blurry through the harsh sun, but Cordelia definitely did something with her head, “Oh? Well, what’s a fantasy of yours? I mean, a post-war fantasy! Where will you live?”

“Hopefully with you.” Panne flicked her head up, closing her eyes to block out the sun, “But I don’t have any fencing preferences. You’ll be in charge of that.”

Cordelia stammered, “W-why thank you! I mean, I’m surprised that you want to live with me. Didn’t I annoy you over the last week?”

“Yes. At first.” She heard Cordelia’s heart skip a beat. Perhaps she ought to say more. “But we would not have gotten this far without your insight. It took me longer than I would like to admit to appreciate you.”

Cordelia let out a light, breathy giggle, “That’s music to my ears, Panne! Could I scratch behind your ears?”

“Of course, but why now?”

“You’re too big to hug.” Cordelia stroked Panne’s large, floppy ears, “But I have to do something to show my appreciation.”

Panne leaned into Cordelia’s hand. She did feel nice.

**Author's Note:**

> haha definitely ran out of time there oops. good thing it's also the most serious/long thing this week
> 
> shoot i was totes gonna write all my fics this week as "polyship week 2" but nope, this just involves two (2) people!!! what a shocker!! I originally wanted sumia or cherche to be involved somewhere but ahahah i just chopped off the ending. Which is why it's so abrupt. aha. sorry
> 
> thanks for reading anyway i hope u have a good day. oh, and leave comments and kudos!


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